hToolbar = findall(hFig, 'tag','FigureToolBar');  % get the figure's toolbar handle
uipushtool(hToolbar, 'String','1');               % add a pushbutton to the toolbar
Error using uipushtool
There is no String property on the PushTool class. 

Apparently, for some unknown reason, standard Matlab only enables us to set the icon (CData) of a toolbar control, but not a text label.
Once again, Java to the rescue:
We first get the Java toolbar reference handle, then add the button in standard Matlab (using uipushtool, uitoggletool and their kin). We can now access the Java toolbar’s last component, relying on the fact that Matlab always adds new buttons at the end of the toolbar. Note that we need to use a short drawnow to ensure that the toolbar is fully re-rendered, otherwise we’d get an invalid Java handle. Finally, once we have this reference handle to the underlying Java button component, we can set and customize its label text and appearance (font face, border, size, alignment etc.):

hToolbar = findall(hFig, 'tag','FigureToolBar');     % get the figure's toolbar handle
jToolbar = hToolbar.JavaContainer.getComponentPeer;  % get the toolbar's Java handle
for buttonIdx = 1 : 4
    % First create the toolbar button using standard Matlab code
    label = num2str(buttonIdx);  % create a string label
    uipushtool(hToolbar, 'ClickedCallback',{@myCallback,analysisIdx}, 'TooltipString',['Run analysis #' label]);
    % Get the Java reference handle to the newly-created button
    drawnow; pause(0.01);  % allow the GUI time to re-render the toolbar
    jButton = jToolbar.getComponent(jToolbar.getComponentCount-1);
    % Set the button's label
    jButton.setText(label)
end

The standard Matlab toolbar button size (23×23 pixels) is too small to display more than a few characters. To display a longer label, we need to widen the button:

% Make the button wider than the standard 23 pixels
newSize = java.awt.Dimension(50, jButton.getHeight);
jButton.setMaximumSize(newSize)
jButton.setPreferredSize(newSize)
jButton.setSize(newSize)

Using a text label does not prevent us from also displaying an icon: In addition to the text label, we can also display a standard icon (by setting the button’s CData property in standard Matlab). This icon will be displayed to the left of the text label. You can widen the button, as shown in the code snippet above, to make space for both the icon and the label. If you want to move the label to a different location relative to the icon, simply modify the Java component’s HorizontalTextPosition property:

jButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(jButton.RIGHT);   % label right of icon (=default)
jButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(jButton.CENTER);  % label on top of icon
jButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(jButton.LEFT);    % label left of icon

In summary, here’s the code snippet that generated the screenshot above:

% Get the Matlab & Java handles to the figure's toolbar
hToolbar = findall(hFig, 'tag','FigureToolBar');     % get the figure's toolbar handle
jToolbar = hToolbar.JavaContainer.getComponentPeer;  % get the toolbar's Java handle
% Button #1: label only, no icon, 23x23 pixels
h1 = uipushtool(hToolbar);
drawnow; pause(0.01);
jButton = jToolbar.getComponent(jToolbar.getComponentCount-1);
jButton.setText('1')
% Create the icon CData from an icon file
graphIcon = fullfile(matlabroot,'/toolbox/matlab/icons/plotpicker-plot.gif');
[graphImg,map] = imread(graphIcon);
map(map(:,1)+map(:,2)+map(:,3)==3) = NaN;  % Convert white pixels => transparent background
cdata = ind2rgb(graphImg,map);
% Button #2: label centered on top of icon, 23x23 pixels
h2 = uipushtool(hToolbar, 'CData',cdata);
drawnow; pause(0.01);
jButton = jToolbar.getComponent(jToolbar.getComponentCount-1);
jButton.setText('2')
jButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(jButton.CENTER)
% Button #3: label on right of icon, 50x23 pixels
h3 = uipushtool(hToolbar, 'CData',cdata);
drawnow; pause(0.01);
jButton = jToolbar.getComponent(jToolbar.getComponentCount-1);
jButton.setText('3...')
d = java.awt.Dimension(50, jButton.getHeight);
jButton.setMaximumSize(d); jButton.setPreferredSize(d); jButton.setSize(d)
% Button #4: label on left of icon, 70x23 pixels
h4 = uipushtool(hToolbar, 'CData',cdata);
drawnow; pause(0.01);
jButton = jToolbar.getComponent(jToolbar.getComponentCount-1);
jButton.setText('and 4:')
jButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(jButton.LEFT)
d = java.awt.Dimension(70, jButton.getHeight);
jButton.setMaximumSize(d); jButton.setPreferredSize(d); jButton.setSize(d)

Many additional toolbar customizations can be found here and in my book “Undocumented Secrets of MATLAB-Java Programming“. If you’d like me to design a professional-looking GUI for you, please contact me.
Caveat emptor: all this only works with the regular Java-based GUI figures, not web-based (“App-Designer”) uifigures.

The post Toolbar button labels appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

 

parula

imageFilename = [docroot, '/matlab/ref/colormap_parula.png']

Note that for a local image to be accepted by HTML, it needs to follow certain conventions. In our case, the HTML string for displaying the above image is:

parula

Warning: it’s easy when dealing with HTML images in Matlab to get the format confused, resulting in a red-x icon. I discussed this issue some 4 years ago, which is still relevant.

How can we get the list of available builtin colormaps? The standard Matlab way of doing this would be something like this:

>> possibleColormaps = set(gcf,'Colormap')
possibleColormaps =
     {}

but as we can see, for some unknown reason (probably another MathWorks omission), Matlab does not list the names of its available builtin colormaps.
Fortunately, all the builtin colormaps have image filenames that follow the same convention, which make it easy to get this list by simply listing the names of the relevant files, from which we can easily create the necessary HTML strings:

>> iconFiles = dir([docroot, '/matlab/ref/colormap_*.png']);
>> colormapNames = regexprep({iconFiles.name}, '.*_(.*).png', '$1')
colormapNames =
  Columns 1 through 9
    'autumn'    'bone'    'colorcube'    'cool'    'copper'    'flag'    'gray'    'hot'    'hsv'
  Columns 10 through 18
    'jet'    'lines'    'parula'    'pink'    'prism'    'spring'    'summer'    'white'    'winter'
>> htmlStrings = strcat('', colormapNames')
str =
    'autumn'
    'bone'
    'colorcube'
    ...
>> hListbox = uicontrol(gcf, 'Style','listbox', 'Units','pixel', 'Pos',[10,10,270,200], 'String',htmlStrings);
>> hPopup   = uicontrol(gcf, 'Style','popup',   'Units','pixel', 'Pos',[10,500,270,20], 'String',htmlStrings);

…which results in the screenshots at the top of this post.
Note how I scaled the images to 10px high (so that the labels would be shown and not cropped vertically) and 200px wide (so that it becomes narrower than the default 434px). There’s really no need in this case for the full 434×27 image size – such flat images scale very nicely, even when their aspect ratio is not preserved. You can adjust the height and width values for a best fit with you GUI.
Unfortunately, it seems that HTML strings are not supported in the new web-based uifigure controls. This is not really Matlab’s fault because the way to customize labels in HTML controls is via CSS: directly embedding HTML code in labels does not work (it’s a Java-Swing feature, not a browser feature). I really hope that either HTML or CSS processing will be enabled for web-based uicontrol in a future Matlab release, because until that time uifigure uicontrols will remain seriously deficient compared to standard figure uicontrols. Until then, if we must use uifigures and wish to customize our labels or listbox items, we can directly access the underlying web controls, as Iliya explained here.

A blog reader recently complained that I’m abusing Swing and basically making Matlab work in unnatural ways, “something it was never meant to be“. I feel that using HTML as I’ve shown last week and in this post would fall under the same category in his eyes. To him and to others who complain I say that I have absolutely no remorse about doing this. When I purchase anything I have the full rights (within the scope of the license) to adapt it in whatever way fits my needs. As a software developer and manager for over 25 years, I’ve developed in dozens of programming languages and environments, and I still enjoy [ab]using Matlab. Matlab is a great environment to get things done quickly and if this sometimes requires a bit of HTML or Java hacks that make some people cringe, then that’s their problem, not mine – I’m content with being able to do in Matlab [nearly] everything I want, quickly, and move on to the next project. As long as it gets the job done, that’s fine by me. If this makes me more of an engineer than a computer scientist, then so be it.
On the flip side, I say to those who claim that Matlab is lacking in this or that aspect, that in most likelihood the limitation is only in their minds, not in Matlab – we can do amazing stuff with Matlab if we just open our minds, and possibly use some undocumented hacks. I’m not saying that Matlab has no limitations, I’m just saying that in most cases they can be overcome if we took the time and trouble to look for a solution. Matlab is a great tool and yet many people are not aware of its potential. Blaming Matlab for its failings is just an easy excuse in many cases. Of course, MathWorks could help my crusade on this subject by enabling useful features such as easy GUI component customizations…
On this sad day, I wish you all Shanah Tova!

The post Icon images & text in Matlab uicontrols appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

The shortcuts.xml file

It turns out that the shortcults toolbar (on R2012a and earlier) or toolstrip group (on R2012b onward) is a reflection of the contents of the [prefdir ‘\shortcuts.xml’] file (depending on your version, the file might be named somewhat differently, i.e. shortcuts_2.xml). This file can be edited in any text editor, Matlab’s editor included. So a very easy way to programmatically affect the shortcuts is to update this file. Here is a sample of this file:

   
   
      Help Browser Favorites
      
         Help Using the Desktop
         Help icon
         helpview([docroot '/mapfiles/matlab_env.map'], 'matlabenvironment_desktop');
         true
      
   
   
      CSSM
      Help icon
      disp('No callback specified for this shortcut')
      true
   
   
      UndocML
      MATLAB icon
      web('undocumentedMatlab.com')
      true
   
   
      My favorite program
      C:\Yair\program\icon.gif
      cd('C:\Yair\program'); myProgram(123);
      true
   
   ...

The file is only loaded once during Matlab startup, so any changes made to it will only take effect after Matlab restarts.

Updating the shortcuts in the current Matlab session

We can update the shortcuts directly, in the current Matlab session, using the builtin com.mathworks.mlwidgets.shortcuts.­ShortcutUtils class. This class has existed largely unchanged for numerous releases (at least as far back as R2008b).
For example, to add a new shortcut to the toolbar:

name = 'My New Shortcut';
cbstr = 'disp(''My New Shortcut'')';  % will be eval'ed when clicked
iconfile = 'c:\path\to\icon.gif';  % default icon if it is not found
isEditable = 'true';
scUtils = com.mathworks.mlwidgets.shortcuts.ShortcutUtils;
category = scUtils.getDefaultToolbarCategoryName;
scUtils.addShortcutToBottom(name,cbstr,iconfile,category,isEditable);

The shortcut’s icon can either be set to a specific icon filepath (e.g., ‘C:\Yair\program\icon.jpg’), or to one of the predefined names: ‘Help icon’, ‘Standard icon’, ‘MATLAB icon’ or ‘Simulink icon’. The editable parameter does not seem to have a visible effect that I could see.
The category name can either be set to the default name using scUtils.getDefaultToolbarCategoryName (‘Shortcuts’ on English-based Matlab R2012b onward), or it can be set to any other name (e.g., ‘My programs’). To add a shortcut to the Help Browser (also known as a “Favorite”), simply set the category to scUtils.getDefaultHelpCategoryName (=’Help Browser Favorites’ on English-based Matlab installations); to add the shortcut to the ‘Start’ button, set the category to ‘Shortcuts’. When you use a non-default category name on R2012a and earlier, you will only see the shortcuts via Matlab’s “Start” button (as seen in the screenshot below); on R2012b onward you will see it as a new category group within the Shortcuts toolstrip (as seen in the screenshot above). For example:

scUtils = com.mathworks.mlwidgets.shortcuts.ShortcutUtils;
scUtils.addShortcutToBottom('clear', 'clear; clc', 'Standard icon', 'Special commands', 'true');

scUtils.removeShortcut('Shortcuts', 'My New Shortcut');

The addShortcutToBottom() method does not override existing shortcuts. Therefore, to ensure that we don’t add duplicate shortcuts, we must first remove the possibly-existing shortcut using removeShortcut() before adding it. Since removeShortcut() does not complain if the specific shortcut is not found, we can safely use it without having to loop over all the existing shortcuts. Alternately, we could loop over all existing category shortcuts checking their label, and adding a new shortcut only if it is not already found, as follows:

scUtils = com.mathworks.mlwidgets.shortcuts.ShortcutUtils;
category = scUtils.getDefaultToolbarCategoryName;
scVector = scUtils.getShortcutsByCategory(category);
scArray = scVector.toArray;  % Java array
foundFlag = 0;
for scIdx = 1:length(scArray)
   scName = char(scArray(scIdx));
   if strcmp(scName, 'My New Shortcut')
      foundFlag = 1; break;
      % alternatively: scUtils.removeShortcut(category, scName);
   end
end
if ~foundFlag
   scUtils.addShortcutToBottom(scName, callbackString, iconString, category, 'true');
end

As noted above, we can add categories by simply specifying a new category name in the call to scUtils.addShortcutToBottom(). We can also add and remove categories directly, as follows (beware: when removing a category, it is removed together with all its contents):

scUtils.addNewCategory('category name');
scUtils.removeShortcut('category name', []);  % entire category will be deleted

Shortcut tools on the Matlab File Exchange

Following my advice on StackOverflow back in 2010, Richie Cotton wrapped the code snippets above in a user-friendly utility (set of independent Matlab functions) that can now be found on the Matlab File Exchange and on his blog. Richie tested his toolbox on Matlab releases as old as R2008b, but the functionality may also work on even older releases.

Shortcuts panel embedded in Matlab GUI

Shortcuts are normally visible in the toolbar and the Matlab start menu (R2012a and earlier) or the Matlab Desktop’s toolstrip (R2012b onward). However, using com.mathworks.mlwidgets.shortcuts.ShortcutTreePanel, the schortcuts can also be displayed in any user GUI, complete with right-click context-menu:

jShortcuts = com.mathworks.mlwidgets.shortcuts.ShortcutTreePanel;
[jhShortcuts,hPanel] = javacomponent(jShortcuts, [10,10,300,200], gcf);

Stay tuned…

Next week I will expand the discussion of Matlab shortcuts with the following improvements:

1. Displaying non-standard controls as shortcuts: checkboxes, drop-downs (combo-boxes) and toggle-buttons
2. Customizing the shortcut tooltip (replacing the default tooltip that simply repeats the callback string)
3. Customizing the shortcut callback (rather than using an eval-ed callback string)
4. Enabling/disabling shortcuts in run-time

Merry Christmas everyone!

The post Programmatic shortcuts manipulation – part 1 appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

figure('Menubar','none', 'Color','w');
hPanel = uipanel('Title','Panel title', 'Units','norm', 'Pos',[.1,.1,.6,.7]);
hButton = uicontrol('String','Click!', 'Parent',hPanel);

>> jPanel = hPanel.JavaFrame.getPrintableComponent
jPanel =
com.mathworks.hg.peer.ui.UIPanelPeer$UIPanelJPanel[,0,0,97x74,...]

Let’s now take a look at the jPanel‘s border:

>> jPanel.getBorder
ans =
com.mathworks.hg.peer.ui.borders.TitledBorder@25cd9b97
>> jPanel.getBorder.get
                Border: [1x1 com.mathworks.hg.peer.ui.borders.EtchedBorderWithThickness]
          BorderOpaque: 0
                 Class: [1x1 java.lang.Class]
                 Title: 'Panel title'
            TitleColor: [1x1 java.awt.Color]
             TitleFont: [1x1 java.awt.Font]
    TitleJustification: 1
         TitlePosition: 2

Ok, simple enough. Let’s replace the border’s EtchedBorderWithThickness with something more appealing. We start with a simple red LineBorder having rounded corners and 1px width:

jColor = java.awt.Color.red;  % or: java.awt.Color(1,0,0)
jNewBorder = javax.swing.border.LineBorder(jColor, 1, true);  % red, 1px, rounded=true
jPanel.getBorder.setBorder(jNewBorder);
jPanel.repaint;  % redraw the modified panel

jColor = java.awt.Color(1,0.5,0);
jNewBorder = javax.swing.border.LineBorder(jColor, 3, false);  % orange, 3px, rounded=false
jPanel.getBorder.setBorder(jNewBorder);
jPanel.repaint;  % redraw the modified panel

jColor = java.awt.Color(0,0.3,0.8);  % light-blue
jNewBorder = javax.swing.border.MatteBorder(2,5,8,11,jColor)  % top,left,bottom,right, color
jPanel.getBorder.setBorder(jNewBorder);
jPanel.repaint;  % redraw the modified panel

% Alternative #1: load from disk file
icon = javax.swing.ImageIcon('C:\Yair\star.gif');
% Alternative #2: load a Matlab resource file
jarFile = fullfile(matlabroot,'/java/jar/mlwidgets.jar');
iconsFolder = '/com/mathworks/mlwidgets/graphics/resources/';
iconURI = ['jar:file:/' jarFile '!' iconsFolder 'favorite_hoverover.png'];  % 14x14 px
icon = javax.swing.ImageIcon(java.net.URL(iconURI));

We can now pass this icon reference to MatteBorder‘s constructor:

w = icon.getIconWidth;
h = icon.getIconHeight;
jNewBorder = javax.swing.border.MatteBorder(h,w,h,w,icon)  % top,left,bottom,right, icon
jPanel.getBorder.setBorder(jNewBorder);
jPanel.repaint;  % redraw the modified panel

jColor = java.awt.Color.blue;  % or: java.awt.Color(0,0,1);
lineWidth = 1;
relativeLineLength = 3;
relativeSpacing = 2;
isRounded = false;
jNewBorder = javax.swing.BorderFactory.createDashedBorder(jColor,lineWidth,relativeLineLength,relativeSpacing,isRounded);
jPanel.getBorder.setBorder(jNewBorder);
jPanel.repaint;  % redraw the modified panel

The post Customizing Matlab uipanels appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

  

Creating the cell renderer

We start by creating a custom ListCellRenderer. Place the following code in a file called LabelListBoxRenderer.java:

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.Hashtable;
public class LabelListBoxRenderer extends JLabel implements ListCellRenderer
{
    private String folderPath;
    private final Hashtable iconsCache = new Hashtable();
    // Class constructors
    public LabelListBoxRenderer() {
        setOpaque(true);
        setHorizontalAlignment(LEFT);
        setVerticalAlignment(CENTER);
    }
    public LabelListBoxRenderer(String folderPath) {
        this();
        this.folderPath = folderPath;
    }
    // Return a label displaying both text and image.
    public Component getListCellRendererComponent(
            JList list,
            Object value,
            int index,
            boolean isSelected,
            boolean cellHasFocus)
    {
        String label = value.toString();
        setFont(list.getFont());
        if (isSelected) {
            // Selected cell item
            setBackground(list.getSelectionBackground());
            setForeground(list.getSelectionForeground());
        } else {
            // Unselected cell item
            setBackground(list.getBackground());
            setForeground(list.getForeground());
        }
        try {
            String iconFname = (folderPath + "/" + label).replace('\\', '/');
            ImageIcon icon = getFileIcon(iconFname);
            setIcon(icon);
            if (icon.getIconWidth() > 0) {
                // Cell item is a valid icon filename
                list.setToolTipText(iconFname + " (" + icon.getIconWidth() + " x " + icon.getIconHeight() + ")");
            } else {
                // Cell item is not an icon filename
                list.setToolTipText(iconFname + " (not an icon)");
                setFont(getFont().deriveFont(Font.ITALIC));
                setForeground(Color.red);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            list.setToolTipText(e.getMessage());
        }
        //System.out.println(index + ": " + label);  // debug console printout
        setText(label);
        return this;
    }
    // Modify the folder path (default = current folder)
    public void setFolderPath(String folderPath) {
        this.folderPath = folderPath;
    }
    // Lazily load the file icons only as needed, later reuse cached data
    private ImageIcon getFileIcon(String filename) {
        ImageIcon icon;
        if (iconsCache.containsKey(filename)) {
            // Reuse cached data
            icon = iconsCache.get(filename);
        } else {
            // Lazily load the file icons only as needed
            icon = new ImageIcon(filename);
            iconsCache.put(filename, icon);  // store in cache for later use
        }
        return icon;
    }
}

In the code above, I’ve cached the ImageIcons, so that the actual disk file is only accessed once rather than repeatedly whenever the cell needs to be rendered. For even improved performance, we could also cache the tooltips and derived italic font so that they would not be regenerated each time (note that the list’s font is not the same as the cell component’s font) – I will leave this as an exercise to the reader.
Next, compile this file (using the standard javac compiler or any Java IDE), ensuring that you target a JVM compatible with your Matlab (JVM 5 will work on R14SP2 onward, 6 on R2007b onward, and 7 only on R2013b or newer). For convenience, both the source and compiled files for the LabelListBoxRenderer class can be downloaded here: LabelListBoxRenderer.java, LabelListBoxRenderer.class.

Using the cell-renderer in Matlab listboxes

Now that we have a custom cell renderer, we should add the LabelListBoxRenderer.class file to Matlab’s Java classpath using the javaaddpath function and then use this class in Matlab:

% Create the Matlab listbox
iconsFolder = fullfile(matlabroot, 'toolbox/matlab/icons');
files = dir(iconsFolder);
hListbox = uicontrol('Style','list', 'String',{files.name}, 'Position',[10,10,120,150]);
% Find the uicontrol's underlying Java component
jScrollpane = findjobj(hListbox);
jListbox = jScrollpane.getViewport.getView;
% Update the listbox's cell-renderer
javaaddpath 'C:\Yair\Undocumented Matlab\Work\'   % location of my LabelListBoxRenderer.class
jRenderer = LabelListBoxRenderer(iconsFolder);
jListbox.setCellRenderer(jRenderer);
% Give the icons some space...
jListbox.setFixedCellHeight(18);

Using the cell-renderer in Matlab combo-boxes

Customizing Matlab combo-boxes is just as easy, and uses the same LabelListBoxRenderer class:

% Create the Matlab combobox
iconsFolder = fullfile(matlabroot, 'toolbox/matlab/icons');
files = dir(iconsFolder);
hCombobox = uicontrol('Style','popup', 'String',{files.name}, 'Position',[10,10,120,150]);
% Find the uicontrol's underlying Java component
jCombobox = findjobj(hCombobox);  % no scroll-pane for combos
% Update the combobox's cell-renderer
javaaddpath 'C:\Yair\Undocumented Matlab\Work\'   % location of my LabelListBoxRenderer.class
jRenderer = LabelListBoxRenderer(iconsFolder);
jCombobox.setRenderer(jRenderer);  % Note: not setCellRenderer()
% Give the icons some space...
jCombobox.setFixedCellHeight(18);
% Make the drop-down list shorter than the default (=20 items)
jCombobox.setMaximumRowCount(8);

The post Customizing listbox/combobox items appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

try
    % R2010a and newer
    iconsClassName = 'com.mathworks.widgets.BusyAffordance$AffordanceSize';
    iconsSizeEnums = javaMethod('values',iconsClassName);
    SIZE_32x32 = iconsSizeEnums(2);  % (1) = 16x16,  (2) = 32x32
    jObj = com.mathworks.widgets.BusyAffordance(SIZE_32x32, 'testing...');  % icon, label
catch
    % R2009b and earlier
    redColor   = java.awt.Color(1,0,0);
    blackColor = java.awt.Color(0,0,0);
    jObj = com.mathworks.widgets.BusyAffordance(redColor, blackColor);
end
jObj.setPaintsWhenStopped(true);  % default = false
jObj.useWhiteDots(false);         % default = false (true is good for dark backgrounds)
javacomponent(jObj.getComponent, [10,10,80,80], gcf);
jObj.start;
    % do some long operation...
jObj.stop;
jObj.setBusyText('All done!');

Note how I’ve used the javacomponent function to place the BusyAffordance object onscreen, at position 10,10 of the current Matlab figure, and gave it an initial size of 80×80 pixels.
When the object is stop()ed, the icon and label are removed by default, but can be displayed un-animated (non-spinning) via the PaintsWhenStopped property:

   

   

d = com.mathworks.mlwidgets.dialog.ProgressBarDialog.createProgressBar('test...', []);
d.setValue(0.75);                        % default = 0
d.setProgressStatusLabel('testing...');  % default = 'Please Wait'
d.setSpinnerVisible(true);               % default = true
d.setCircularProgressBar(false);         % default = false  (true means an indeterminate (looping) progress bar)
d.setCancelButtonVisible(true);          % default = true
d.setVisible(true);                      % default = false

The post Animated busy (spinning) icon appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

The listbox solution

I have often noted in past articles that most Matlab uicontrols support HTML formatting. We can use a listbox control for our log panel, and use HTML formatting for the various log messages, based on their severity or content. For example:

uicontrol('Style','list', 'Position',[10,10,70,70], 'String', ...
   {'Hello', 'world', ...
    'What a', ...   % note:  are not needed
    'nice day!'});   % note:  is not needed

Rich listboxes such as this are very easy to set up and use. As I just showed, all it takes is sending an HTML string to a regular listbox. The down-side is that listboxes only display single-line messages, so if our message is too long we need to manually split it into separate listbox lines, which is rather inconvenient. Using HTML <br/> does not work since the allocated line height remains unchanged. We can fix this by playing around with the underlying Java object‘s RowHeight property, but that again is rather inconvenient.

The editbox solution

Instead of a listbox, I often use a multi-line editbox. Unfortunately, HTML is not as-easy to use in multi-line editbox contents, but as I have shown before, it is indeed possible and actually quite powerful. In fact, I am using such an editbox-based log panel’s in my online presentation at the MATLAB Computational Finance Virtual Conference tomorrow (Thursday Sep 19, 2013 at 2pm EST / 8pm CEST, see details below):

function logMessage(jEditbox,text,severity)
   % Ensure we have an HTML-ready editbox
   HTMLclassname = 'javax.swing.text.html.HTMLEditorKit';
   if ~isa(jEditbox.getEditorKit,HTMLclassname)
      jEditbox.setContentType('text/html');
   end
   % Parse the severity and prepare the HTML message segment
   if nargin < 3,  severity='info';  end
   switch lower(severity(1))
      case 'i',  icon = 'greenarrowicon.gif'; color='gray';
      case 'w',  icon = 'demoicon.gif';       color='black';
      otherwise, icon = 'warning.gif';        color='red';
   end
   icon = fullfile(matlabroot,'toolbox/matlab/icons',icon);
   iconTxt =[''];
   msgTxt = [' ',text,''];
   newText = [iconTxt,msgTxt];
   endPosition = jEditbox.getDocument.getLength;
   if endPosition>0, newText=['
' newText];  end
   % Place the HTML message segment at the bottom of the editbox
   currentHTML = char(jEditbox.getText);
   jEditbox.setText(strrep(currentHTML,[60 '/body>'],newText));
   endPosition = jEditbox.getDocument.getLength;
   jEditbox.setCaretPosition(endPosition); % end of content
end

Next, we initialize the log panel editbox and store the editbox’s underlying Java component (jEditbox) using the findjobj utility:

% Prepare the log editbox
hLogPanel = uicontrol('style','edit', 'max',5, 'Parent',hLeftBottomPanel, 'Units','norm', 'Position',[0,0.2,1,0.8], 'Background','w');
% Get the underlying Java editbox, which is contained within a scroll-panel
jScrollPanel = findjobj(hLogPanel);
try
    jScrollPanel.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(jScrollPanel.java.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);
    jScrollPanel = jScrollPanel.getViewport;
catch
    % may possibly already be the viewport, depending on release/platform etc.
end
jEditbox = handle(jScrollPanel.getView,'CallbackProperties');

Now, we can use this logging utility function to log messages in our application. For example:

logMessage(jEditbox, 'a regular info message...');
logMessage(jEditbox, 'a warning message...', 'warn');
logMessage(jEditbox, 'an error message!!!', 'error');
logMessage(jEditbox, 'a regular message again...', 'info');

% Prevent user editing in the log-panel
jEditbox.setEditable(false);
% Set-up a Matlab callback function to handle hyperlink clicks
set(jEditbox,'HyperlinkUpdateCallback',@linkCallbackFcn);

About the MATLAB Computational Finance Virtual Conference and my presentation

The MATLAB Computational Finance Virtual Conference is a one-day (Thursday Sep 19, 2013) event of hour-long presentations by industry professionals that showcase real-world examples demonstrating how financial-industry researchers and developers can excel at their jobs, improve their research and business processes, reduce costs, and mitigate risks by using Matlab. Registration to the conference is free and it’s a virtual conference, so there’s no need for a tie and jacket and you’re welcome to join…

• Animated GIF logo image (rotating Dollar sign)
• Customized data table
• Log box with rich HTML contents: icons and color-coded messages (as shown above)
• Draggable (resizable) panel borders (note that this feature does not work in the new HG2 – I hope it will be fixed by the time that HG2 is released)
• Maximized figure window

So, even if you’re not interested in real-time financial trading with Matlab, you might find it interesting to see the neat things that Matlab can do using a Java API interface and a few undocumented GUI tricks (such as the rich-contents log that I explained above).
The demo source code is provided here (tradingDemo.m and supporting files). Note that this is provided as-is, free of charge but without any warranty or support. You would naturally need IB-Matlab and an Interactive Brokers account to run it. But you can reuse parts of the source code in your Matlab programs even without an IB account or IB-Matlab.

The post Rich-contents log panel appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

The documented method

Some Matlab uicontrols (buttons, radio and checkboxes) have the CData property that can be used to load and display an image. For example:

imgData = imread('myImage.jpg');   % or: imread(URL)
hButton = uicontrol('CData',imgData, ...);

While label uicontrols (uicontrol(‘style’,’text’, …)) also have the CData property, it has no effect on these controls. Instead, we can create an invisible axes that displays the image using the image function.

The undocumented method

web-based images

I’ve already written extensively about Matlab’s built-in support for HTML in many of its controls. The supported HTML subset includes the <img> tag, and can therefore display images. For example:

htmlStr = 'Logo: ';
hButton = uicontrol('Position',[10,10,120,70], 'String',htmlStr, 'Background','white');

local images

Note that the image src (filename) needs to be formatted in a URL-compliant format such as 'http://www.website.com/folder/image.gif' or 'file:/c:/folder/subfolder/img.png'. If we try to use a non-URL-format filename, the image will not be rendered, only a placeholder box:

uicontrol('Position',..., 'String','');  %bad
uicontrol('Style','list', ... 'String',{...,''});  %bad

>> iconsFolder = fullfile(matlabroot,'/toolbox/matlab/icons/');
>> iconUrl = strrep(['file:/' iconsFolder 'matlabicon.gif'],'\','/');
>> str = ['']
str =

>> uicontrol('Position',..., 'String',str);
>> uicontrol('Style','list', ... str});

images in text labels

As for text labels, since text-style uicontrols do not unfortunately support HTML, we can use the equivalent Java JLabels, as I have explained here. Here too, we need to use the 'file:/' protocol prefix and the '/' folder separator if we want to use local files rather than internet files (http://…).

Java customizations

Using a uicontrol’s underlying Java component, we can customize the displayed image icon even further. For example, we can specify a different icon for selected/unselected/disabled/hovered/pressed/normal button states, as I have explained here. In fact, we can even specify a unique icon that will be used for the mouse cursor when it hovers on the control:

R2019b and newer

Iin R2019b and later, unless you specify the image size nothing will be shown. A solution is presented in this answer

str = [''];

The post Images in Matlab uicontrols & labels appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

A reminder: accessing the underlying Java object

Matlab menus (uimenu) are basically simple wrappers for the much more powerful and flexible Java Swing JMenu and JMenuItem on which they are based. Many important functionalities that are available in Java menus are missing from the Matlab uimenus.
Getting the Java reference for the figure window’s main menu is very easy:

jFrame = get(handle(hFig),'JavaFrame');
try
    % R2008a and later
    jMenuBar = jFrame.fHG1Client.getMenuBar;
catch
    % R2007b and earlier
    jMenuBar = jFrame.fFigureClient.getMenuBar;
end

There are many customizations that can only be done using the Java handle: setting icons, several dozen callback types, tooltips, background color, font, text alignment, and so on. etc. Interested readers may wish to get/set/inspect/methodsview/uiinspect the jSave reference handle and/or to read the documentation for JMenuItem. Today’s article will focus on icon customizations.

Setting simple menu item icons

Many of Matlab’s icons reside in either the [matlabroot ‘/toolbox/matlab/icons/’] folder or the [matlabroot ‘/java/jar/mwt.jar’] file (a JAR file is simply a zip file that includes Java classes and resources such as icon images). Let us create icons from the latter, to keep a consistent look-and-feel with the rest of Matlab (we could just as easily use our own external icon files):

% External icon file example
jSave.setIcon(javax.swing.ImageIcon('C:\Yair\save.gif'));
% JAR resource example
jarFile = fullfile(matlabroot,'/java/jar/mwt.jar');
iconsFolder = '/com/mathworks/mwt/resources/';
iconURI = ['jar:file:/' jarFile '!' iconsFolder 'save.gif'];
iconURI = java.net.URL(iconURI);  % not necessary for external files
jSave.setIcon(javax.swing.ImageIcon(iconURI));

Note that setting a menu item’s icon automatically re-aligns all other items in the menu, including those that do not have an icon (an internal bug that was introduced in R2010a causes a misalignment, as shown below):

   

Checkmark icon

The empty space on the left of the menu is reserved for the check mark. Each Matlab menu item is check-able, since it is an object that extends the com.mathworks.mwswing.MJCheckBoxMenuItem class. I have not found a way to eliminate this empty space, which is really unnecessary in the File-menu case (it is only actually necessary in the View and Tools menus). Note that if an icon is set for the item, both the icon and the checkmark will be displayed, side by side.
The check mark is controlled by the State property of the Java object (which accepts logical true/false values), or the Checked property of the Matlab handle (which accepts the regular ‘on’/’off’ string values):

% Set the check mark at the Matlab level
set(findall(hFig,'tag','figMenuFileSave'), 'Checked','on');
% Equivalent - set the checkmark at the Java level
jSave.setState(true);

   

Customizing menu icons

Icons can be customized: modify the gap between the icon and the label with the IconTextGap property (default = 4 [pixels]); place icons to the right of the label by setting HorizontalTextPosition to jSave.LEFT (=2), or centered using jSave.CENTER (=0). Note that the above-mentioned misalignment bug does not appear in these cases:

   

myIcon = fullfile(matlabroot,'/toolbox/matlab/icons/matlabicon.gif');
imageToolkit = java.awt.Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit;
iconImage = imageToolkit.createImage(myIcon);
iconImage = iconImage.getScaledInstance(32,32,iconImage.SCALE_SMOOTH);
jSave.setIcon(javax.swing.ImageIcon(iconImage));

Remember when rescaling images, particularly small ones with few pixels, that it is always better to shrink than to enlarge images: enlarging a small icon image might introduce a significant pixelization effect:

myIcon = 'C:\Yair\Undocumented Matlab\Images\save_disabled.gif';
jSaveAs.setDisabledIcon(javax.swing.ImageIcon(myIcon));
jSaveAs.setEnabled(false);

   

   

The post Customizing menu items part 3 appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

% Prevent an annoying warning msg
warning off MATLAB:uitabgroup:OldVersion
% Prepare a tab-group consisting of two tabs
hTabGroup = uitabgroup; drawnow;
tab1 = uitab(hTabGroup, 'title','Panel 1');
a = axes('parent', tab1); surf(peaks);
tab2 = uitab(hTabGroup, 'title','Panel 2');
uicontrol(tab2, 'String','Close', 'Callback','close(gcbf)');
% Get the underlying Java reference (use hidden property)
jTabGroup = getappdata(handle(hTabGroup),'JTabbedPane');

Foreground & background tab colors

We can set the tab font color using setForeground() and setForegroundAt(), or via HTML. Note that setForegroundAt() overrides anything set by setForeground(). Also remember that Java uses 0-based indexing so tab #1 is actually the second tab:

% Equivalent manners to set a red tab foreground:
jTabGroup.setForegroundAt(1,java.awt.Color(1.0,0,0)); % tab #1
jTabGroup.setTitleAt(1,'Panel 2');
jTabGroup.setForeground(java.awt.Color.red);

Unfortunately, the corresponding setBackgroundAt(tabIndex,color) method has no visible effect, and the Matlab-extended tabs keep their white/gray backgrounds. A similar attempt to modify the tab’s BackgroundColor property fails, since Matlab made this property unmodifiable (=’none’). A simple solution is to use a CSS background:

% Equivalent manners to set a yellow tab background:
jTabGroup.setTitleAt(0,'
Panel 1');
jTabGroup.setTitleAt(0,'
Panel 1');

We can set the foreground text color using the CSS color directive. Similarly, we can also set a background gradient image for the tabs, using the CSS background-image directive. Which leads us to our next customization:

Icon images

Icons and sub-components can be added to the tabs. Unfortunately, for some reason that I do not fully understand, jTabGroup.setIconAt() has no apparent effect. The solution is to set our own custom control as the requested tab, and add our icon (or other customizations) to it. Here is a simple example:

% Add an icon to tab #1 (=second tab)
icon = javax.swing.ImageIcon('C:\Yair\save.gif');
jLabel = javax.swing.JLabel('Tab #2');
jLabel.setIcon(icon);
jTabGroup.setTabComponentAt(1,jLabel);	% Tab #1 = second tab
% Note: icon is automatically grayed when label is disabled
jLabel.setEnabled(false);
jTabGroup.setEnabledAt(1,false);  % disable only tab #1

Close buttons

Now let’s try a more complex example, of adding a close (‘x’) button to one of the tabs. Generalizing this code snippet is left as an exercise to the reader:

% First let's load the close icon
jarFile = fullfile(matlabroot,'/java/jar/mwt.jar');
iconsFolder = '/com/mathworks/mwt/resources/';
iconURI = ['jar:file:/' jarFile '!' iconsFolder 'closebox.gif'];
icon = javax.swing.ImageIcon(java.net.URL(iconURI));
% Now let's prepare the close button: icon, size and callback
jCloseButton = handle(javax.swing.JButton,'CallbackProperties');
jCloseButton.setIcon(icon);
jCloseButton.setPreferredSize(java.awt.Dimension(15,15));
jCloseButton.setMaximumSize(java.awt.Dimension(15,15));
jCloseButton.setSize(java.awt.Dimension(15,15));
set(jCloseButton, 'ActionPerformedCallback',@(h,e)delete(tab2));
% Now let's prepare a tab panel with our label and close button
jPanel = javax.swing.JPanel;	% default layout = FlowLayout
set(jPanel.getLayout, 'Hgap',0, 'Vgap',0);  % default gap = 5px
jLabel = javax.swing.JLabel('Tab #2');
jPanel.add(jLabel);
jPanel.add(jCloseButton);
% Now attach this tab panel as the tab-group's 2nd component
jTabGroup.setTabComponentAt(1,jPanel);	% Tab #1 = second tab

Next week’s article will conclude the series on Matlab’s uitab. Any particular customization you are interested in? Please do post a comment.
Addendum Oct 3 2014: the uitab and uitabgroup functions have finally become fully supported and documented in Matlab version 8.4 (R2014b). However, the Java-based customizations shown in this article are still unsupported and undocumented, although they remain practically unchanged from what I’ve described in this article, four years earlier.

The post Uitab colors, icons and images appeared first on Undocumented Matlab.

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4. Images in Matlab uicontrols & labels Images can be added to Matlab controls and labels in a variety of manners, documented and undocumented. ...

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